The field of the present invention relates to optical add-drop multiplexers. In particular, disclosed herein are various embodiments of a reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer incorporating one or more sets of diffractive elements.
Various embodiments, implementations, and adaptations of planar optical waveguides with diffractive element sets are disclosed in:                Application Ser. No. 11/376,714, entitled “Etched surface gratings fabricated using computed interference between simulated optical signals and reduction lithography” filed Mar. 14, 2006 in the names of Thomas W. Mossberg, Dmitri Iazikov, and Christoph M. Greiner;        Application Ser. No. 11/371,339, entitled “Integrated optical sensor, measurement system and optical detection methods” filed Mar. 7, 2006 in the names of Dmitri Iazikov, Christoph M. Greiner, and Thomas W. Mossberg;        Application Ser. No. 11/361,407 filed Feb. 23, 2006 in the name of Thomas W. Mossberg;        Application Ser. No. 11/334,039 filed Jan. 17, 2006 in the names of Thomas W. Mossberg, Christoph M. Greiner, and Dmitri Iazikov;        Application Ser. No. 11/298,290 filed Dec. 9, 2005 in the names of Thomas W. Mossberg, Dmitri Iazikov, and Christoph M. Greiner;        Application Ser. No. 11/280,876 filed Nov. 15, 2005 in the names of Christoph M. Greiner, Dmitri Iazikov, and Thomas W. Mossberg;        Application Ser. No. 11/239,540 filed Sep. 28, 2005 in the name of Thomas W. Mossberg (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,009,743 issued Mar. 7, 2006);        Application Ser. No. 11/213,345 filed Aug. 25, 2005 in the names of Christoph M. Greiner, Dmitri Iazikov, and Thomas W. Mossberg;        Application Ser. No. 11/210,439 filed Aug. 23, 2005 in the names of Dmitri Iazikov, Christoph M. Greiner, and Thomas W. Mossberg;        Application Ser. No. 11/155,327 filed Jun. 16, 2005 in the names of Christoph M. Greiner, Thomas W. Mossberg, and Dmitri Iazikov;        Application Ser. No. 11/076,251 filed Mar. 8, 2005 in the name of Thomas W. Mossberg;        Application Ser. No. 11/062,109 filed Feb. 17, 2005 in the names of Christoph M. Greiner, Thomas W. Mossberg, and Dmitri Iazikov;        Application Ser. No. 11/055,559 filed Feb. 9, 2005 in the names of Christoph M. Greiner, Thomas W. Mossberg, and Dmitri Iazikov;        Application Ser. No. 11/021,549 filed Dec. 23, 2004 in the names of Dmitri Iazikov, Christoph M. Greiner, and Thomas W. Mossberg;        Application Ser. No. 10/998,185 filed Nov. 26, 2004 in the names of Dmitri Iazikov, Christoph M. Greiner, and Thomas W. Mossberg (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,993,223 issued Jan. 31, 2006);        Application Ser. No. 10/989,244 filed Nov. 15, 2004 in the names of Christoph M. Greiner, Thomas W. Mossberg, and Dmitri Iazikov (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,961,491 issued Nov. 1, 2005);        Application Ser. No. 10/989,236 filed Nov. 15, 2004 in the names of Christoph M. Greiner, Dmitri Iazikov, and Thomas W. Mossberg (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,965,716 issued Nov. 15, 2005);        Application Ser. No. 10/923,455 filed Aug. 21, 2004 in the names of Thomas W. Mossberg, Dmitri Iazikov, and Christoph M. Greiner;        Application Ser. No. 10/898,527 filed Jul. 22, 2004 in the named of Dmitri Iazikov, Christoph M. Greiner, and Thomas W. Mossberg;        Application Ser. No. 10/857,987 filed May 29, 2004 in the names of Lawrence D. Brice, Christoph M. Greiner, Thomas W. Mossberg, and Dmitri Iazikov (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,990,276 issued Jan. 24, 2006);        Application Ser. No. 10/842,790 filed May 11, 2004 in the names of Thomas W. Mossberg, Christoph M. Greiner, and Dmitri Iazikov (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,987,911 issued Jan. 17, 2006);        Application Ser. No. 10/798,089 filed Mar. 10, 2004 in the names of Christoph M. Greiner, Thomas W. Mossberg, and Dmitri Iazikov (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,823,115 issued Nov. 23, 2004);        Application Ser. No. 10/794,634 filed Mar. 5, 2004 in the names of Dmitri Iazikov, Thomas W. Mossberg, and Christoph M. Greiner (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,985,656 issued Jan. 10, 2006);        Application Ser. No. 10/740,194 filed Dec. 17, 2003 in the names of Dmitri Iazikov, Thomas W. Mossberg, and Christoph M. Greiner;        Application Ser. No. 10/653,876 filed Sep. 2, 2003 in the names of Christoph M. Greiner, Dmitri Iazikov, and Thomas W. Mossberg (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,829,417 issued Dec. 7, 2004);        Application Ser. No. 10/602,327 filed Jun. 23, 2003 in the name of Thomas W. Mossberg (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,859,318 issued Feb. 22, 2005);        Application Ser. No. 10/229,444 filed Aug. 27, 2002 in the names of Thomas W. Mossberg and Christoph M. Greiner (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,678,429 issued Jan. 13, 2004);        Application Ser. No. 09/843,597 filed Apr. 26, 2001 in the name of Thomas W. Mossberg (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,965,464 issued Nov. 15, 2005);        Application Ser. No. 09/811,081 filed Mar. 16, 2001 in the name of Thomas W. Mossberg (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,879,441 issued Apr. 12, 2005).        
Each of said applications and patents is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. For one or more of the references incorporated hereinabove, it may be the case that the devices, structures, embodiments, implementations, adaptations, procedures, or techniques disclosed therein may be employed, within the scope of the present disclosure or appended claims, for implementing a reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer incorporating one or more diffractive element sets.